New York Knicks Mike Vaccaro Knicks can lean on what got them here with a second Garden chance By Mike Vaccaro Published June 9, 2026, 7:34 p.m. ET Spurs forward Julian Champagnie #30 defends against New York Knicks center Karl-Anthony Towns #32. Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post After a while, the level of basketball felt almost normal. The same plays that a few weeks earlier would’ve drawn you out of your seat … well, this was what the Knicks had become. This is what they were doing every night. Everyone got their touches. Everyone got their shots. Everyone made their shots.
And everyone — everyone — took it as a personal affront when their man scored. That’s how you build a terrific defense on the fly. It’s how you build a force, a phenomenon, a juggernaut. And make no mistake: That’s what the Knicks were from April 25 right up to the opening minutes of the third quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.
(WEBSTER’S: Juggernaut (noun) — a massive inexorable force, campaign, movement, or object that crushes whatever is in its path.)
